Hoe Kee Chicken Rice Ball

There is no where else in the world that serves chicken rice like Hoe Kee's. I can never get enough of the chicken rice dish here. A must go place for Gan and I during our trip home.

Gan: This is my single favorite dish ever. It can't be any simpler than this. Chicken, a most common poultry in any cuisine. Rice, another common starch in almost any cuisine in the world. And of course, to accompany that, chili sauce to add some spice and acid to the meal. They don't typically do a lot with a dish like chicken rice. You boil it or steam it, and use the juice or broth from the chicken and infuse that to the starch or make soup and sauce with it. I'm sure there's one chicken rice dish in every cuisine out there. To me, nothing beats how Hoe Kee made this dish, years after years. I hope I'm still able to have this when I grow old as I've had it since childhood and through my current adulthood.

A uniquely Malaccan dish and Hoe Kee's chicken rice balls is the best in town

Gan: It's uniquely Malaccan because of the way they made it into ball shape. The rice is cooked in chicken broth and was kept very moist and warm so it's easy to shape it into a ball. The texture is interesting as you dip it into the chili sauce so it gets soaked up by the chicken rice ball and as you bite into it, the rice starts crumbling and the explosion of aroma and juice in your mouth... mmmm...

chicken + chicken gizzards

Gan: The meat (and innards) are almost a side dish to the main course, which is the chicken rice ball. I remembered when I was in primary school, with most of the school children having limited budget, we'd have just chicken rice ball without the meat. It's a treat to eat it like that with your fingers or using a stick to poke it and dip it into the chili sauce.

This is the chili sauce that ties the chicken rice dish together. The sauce - Red chili, garlic, ginger, lime and chicken broth.

Gan: Malaysians/Asians are very particular about their chili sauce. If it's made well, it can catapult your restaurant business very easily. I've seen people going to a certain restaurant just because of "the chili sauce there is the best!"